Monday’s briefing: Cup competitions thrive as lower-league teams provide shocks

Plymouth pulled off one of the great FA Cup shocks by knocking out Premier League leaders Liverpool in the fourth round.

Ryan Hardie scored the only goal of the 1-0 win from the penalty spot, while Tottenham’s disappointing week continued with a 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa.

There was also a major shock in the Scottish Cup, where Queen’s Park pulled off a 1-0 win over Rangers in the fifth round at Ibrox.

Quadruple hopes over for Liverpool

Arne Slot has enjoyed a dream start to life at Anfield, with the Reds sitting top of the league, performing strongly in the Champions League and through to the Carabao Cup final.

But they were victims of a huge upset against the team sitting bottom of the Sky Bet Championship, with an under-strength Liverpool side unable to find a response to Hardie’s 53rd-minute spot-kick after a handball from Harvey Elliott.

It was only the fourth time that the team starting the day at the top of the Premier League has been eliminated from the FA Cup by a side from outside the top flight.

Slot was frustrated by the performance, saying: “The result is obvious, it is a big disappointment. There was not a lot to be happy about with the way we played.”

Plymouth boss Miron Muslic, who succeeded Wayne Rooney last month, was left stunned. He said: “Normally I’m very good in my words and eloquent, but I’m a little bit speechless.”

Not that he was planning to go overboard with his celebrations. Muslic added: “I will go home and re-watch the game, eat some nachos and drink a Fanta.”

Spurs slump again

Tottenham began the week with hopes in both domestic cup competitions, but those are in tatters after their heavy loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-finals was followed by defeat against Villa.

Spurs fell behind inside the first minute when Jacob Ramsey’s shot flew through Antonin Kinsky’s hands, and Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s lead in the second half just before Marcus Rashford came off the bench to make his debut.

New signing Mathys Tel provided something positive to take away with a first goal for Ange Postecoglou’s side but it was too little, too late.

The pressure on Postecoglou is growing but he again cited his team’s injuries, saying: “People can judge me. They can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever. That’s fine. What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time.”

Rangers stunned

Rangers’ hopes of a domestic trophy this season are almost certainly over after one of the biggest upsets in Scottish Cup history.

Seb Drozd scored the winner while there was late drama when James Tavernier had a penalty saved by Calum Ferrie.

Queen’s Park boss Callum Davidson could not bear to watch that moment, but said: “Overall you have to enjoy these occasions. It doesn’t happen very often, especially for Queen’s Park, but enjoy it and enjoy getting through to the next round. Absolutely delighted. We worked really hard for it.”

Shaw scores on return

Khadija Shaw was back among the goals for Manchester City Women three days after pulling out of a match following racist abuse.

The prolific forward did not play in City’s League Cup semi-final with Arsenal on Thursday for mental health reasons after experiencing the abuse following defeat by the same team in the Women’s Super League last weekend.

Shaw began Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Leicester on the bench, but came on for the second half and scored in the 59th minute of City’s 3-1 victory.

“I think that will give her a lot of confidence,” said manager Gareth Taylor on bbc.co.uk. “She’s coming out of a team in a time where you don’t really want that to happen, particularly when she’s coming back from injury as well.”

Shaw is the leading scorer in the WSL with nine goals despite recently missing more than a month because of a leg injury.

What’s on today?

Doncaster will hope to take inspiration from Plymouth when they host Crystal Palace in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Rovers are the lowest-ranked team left in the competition and are looking to reach the fifth round for just the second time in the last 68 years.

Their only previous appearance in that period came in 2018-19, when they were beaten by Palace.

The draw for the last 16 will take place ahead of the match while, in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup, St Mirren host Hearts.